While often perceived as delicate nectar-sippers, butterflies exhibit a far more varied and sometimes unappealing diet than most people realize. Their eating habits extend beyond the sweet allure of flower nectar to include less conventional, even repulsive, food sources. This behavior, driven by the need for essential nutrients, showcases the adaptability and resourcefulness of these seemingly fragile creatures.
Beyond Nectar: A Butterfly's Varied Palate
Butterflies primarily consume nectar, a sugary liquid found in flowers, using a long, straw-like proboscis to suck it up. Nectar provides essential sugars for energy. However, nectar alone doesn't fulfill all their nutritional requirements. To supplement their diet, butterflies engage in a behavior known as "puddling," where they gather minerals and nutrients from various sources.
Puddling: A Key to Butterfly Nutrition
Puddling involves butterflies landing on moist surfaces like wet soil, mud, feces, sweat, tears, urine, and even carrion. These sources provide crucial minerals like sodium and nitrogen, which are scarce in nectar but essential for reproduction and overall health.
The Attraction to Unconventional Sources
Mud: Butterflies often congregate on mud puddles, especially after rain, to extract salts, nitrogen, proteins, and amino acids.
Sweat and Tears: Butterflies have been observed lapping up sweat and tears from animals, including humans, tortoises, and caimans, for their valuable mineral content. Male butterflies primarily engage in this behavior.
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Urine: Rich in mineral salts, urine is another attractive source for butterflies. Some species will even secrete their own fluids onto dried urine patches to dissolve and consume the minerals.
Blood and Poop: Butterflies may also consume blood and animal feces, which are rich in nutrients.
Decaying Flesh: Rotting animal carcasses are a significant food source for some butterfly species, providing essential nutrients. Researchers even use decaying meat like shrimp heads and prawn paste to bait butterfly traps. The butterflies "lick" the rotting meat because they lack teeth.
Sap: Another food source for butterflies is sap from damaged trees.
The Role of Diet in Butterfly Reproduction
The nutrients acquired through puddling play a vital role in butterfly reproduction. Male butterflies often transfer the sodium and minerals they obtain to females as a "nuptial gift" during mating. This gift enhances the offspring's chances of survival.
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Caterpillars: The Foundation of a Butterfly's Diet
The larval stage, or caterpillar stage, is crucial in a butterfly's life cycle. During this phase, caterpillars feed voraciously on specific host plants, sometimes called caterpillar food plants, which provide the necessary nutrients for growth and development. The host plants are vital to the butterfly. Without them, there will be no butterflies.
Host Plants vs. Nectar Plants
It's important to distinguish between host plants and nectar plants. Host plants are food for caterpillars, while nectar plants provide food for adult butterflies. Each butterfly species has preferred nectar plants, though many adults will feed from a wide variety of sources. Caterpillars tend to be more specific in their food source than butterflies.
Choosing the Right Plants for Butterflies
To attract and support butterflies in your garden:
- Plant a variety of nectar-rich flowers that bloom throughout the seasons.
- Include larval host plants to provide food for caterpillars.
- Consider native plants, which are often better suited to local butterfly populations.
Examples of Nectar Plants and the Butterflies They Attract
| BUTTERFLY SPECIES | FAVORED NECTAR PLANTS |
|---|---|
| Anise Swallowtail | columbine, Hall’s lomatium, leichtlin’s camas, New England Aster, lantana |
| Eastern Black Swallowtail | Blue Mistflower, Milkweed, phlox |
| Giant Swallowtail | lantana, orange, Pale Purple Coneflower, Purple Coneflower |
| Pipevine Swallowtail | azalea, Common Butonbush, honeysuckle, orchid, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia) |
| Spicebush Swallowtail | Joe-Pye Weed, Sweet Joe Pye Weed, jewelweed, lantana, honeysuckle, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia) |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | Bee Balm (Monarda), Common Buttonbush, honeysuckle, sunflower, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia) |
| Zebra Swallowtail | Milkweed, Joe-Pye Weed, Sweet Joe Pye Weed, red clover, Zinnia, Cosmos sulphureus, lantana, pentas, daisy |
| Monarch | Milkweed, New England Aster, red clover, Zinnia, Cosmos sulphureus, lantana, pentas, daisy, Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia) |
| Viceroy | Milkweed, New England Aster, red clover, Zinnia, Cosmos sulphureus, lantana, pentas, daisy, rotting fruit |
| Red-Spotted Purple | rotting fruit, dung, Purple Coneflower, small white flowers such as a white buddleia |
| Great Spangled Fritillary | Milkweed, New England Aster, red clover, Zinnia, Cosmos sulphureus, lantana, pentas, daisy |
| Variegated Fritillary | Joe Pye Weed, hibiscus, red clover, Milkweeds, composite family |
| Meadow Fritillary | dandelion, daisy, black-eyed susans, Purple Coneflower |
| Mourning Cloak | rotting fruit, dung, New Jersey Tea, lilac |
| Question Mark | rotting fruit, dung, New England Aster, sweet pepperbush |
| Green Comma | dung, carrion, rotting fruit, puddles |
| Red Admiral | Cosmos sulphureus, rotting fruit, gaillardia, Butterfly Milkweed |
| Painted Lady | Lance-Leaf Coreopsis, buckwheat, red clover, lantana, Giant Ironweed |
| American Painted Lady | burdock, daisy, everlastings, mallows, Malva sylvestris, yarrow, Zinnia, heliotrope |
| Buckeye | Gaillardia, lantana, Cosmos sulphureus, clovers |
| Baltimore Checkerspot | Lobelia, Coneflower, Gaillardia |
| Pearl Crescent | Zinnia, daisies, clovers, Showy Goldenrod |
| Great Purple Hairstreak | daisy, Purple Coneflower, Pale Purple Coneflower, clovers |
| Gray Hairstreak | yarrow, mint, Goldenrod, white sweet clover |
| American Copper | daisy, dandelion, clovers, Milkweed |
| Tailed Blue | daisy, dandelion, clovers, Milkweed |
| Spring Azure | coltsfoot, daisy, Milkweed, Coreopsis, privet, New Jersey Tea |
| Cloudless Sulphur | hibiscus, cassia, pentas, bougainvillea, Cardinal Flower |
| Clouded Sulphur | clovers, dandelion, phlox, Milkweed |
| Orange Sulphur | clovers, dandelion, Parsley, Zinnia, composite family |
| Dogface | clovers, Coreopsis, Thistle, Verbena |
| Checkered White | dandelion, Gaillardia, Purple Coneflower |
| Cabbage White | mustards, Asters, dandelions, clover, Blazing Star, mint |
| Zebra Longwing | hibiscus, pentas, lantana, Mistflower |
| Gulf Fritillary | hibiscus, Common Buttonbush, pentas, lantana |
| Malachite | rotting fruit, dung, mud |
Favorite Nectar Plants
Some popular nectar plants that attract many butterflies include:
- Zinnia
- Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower)
- Butterfly Bush (Buddleja)
- Lantana
- Milkweed
Avoiding Invasive Plants
While butterfly bush (Buddleja) is a popular choice, it's considered an invasive plant in some areas. Consider planting native alternatives such as:
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- Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
- Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Blazing star (Liatris)
- New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americana)
- Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)
- Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis or S. pubens)
- Bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)
- St. John's Wort (Hypericum)
- Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Butterflies and Pollination
Butterflies play a crucial role in pollination. As they feed on nectar, they become covered in pollen grains, which they then transfer to other flowers, aiding in plant reproduction.